Every few films, Steven Soderbergh makes a kind of palate-cleanser, a
movie made to reorient himself after several big-budget projects. Last
year, his palate-cleanser was this comedy-drama about a couple of days
in the lives of a group of Hollywood types. It's highly episodic,
jumping from one small bunch of characters to another, heading for the
suicide of one of them.

Treating this material in this almost cinema-verite fashion is
interesting in itself, and all of the performances are very good,
especially Blair Underwood and Julia Roberts (paired throughout). But
Soderbergh extends his idea a little too far; in addition to the "real
life" sequences, there's also a movie-within-the-movie ("Full Frontal"
opens with bogus credits for that film, including the title) which he
tries to distinguish by using normal Hollywood photography for the
movie-with sequences, and hand-held video photography for the rest. But
they still look so much alike, that it soon becomes confusing, even
boring. "Full Frontal" has a lot of virtues, but it still doesn't
measure up to Soderbergh's best work. However, especially from this
DVD, it looks like everyone had a great time making it.

Included in the DVD extras is Soderbergh's list of The Rules, including
such daunting elements as no trailers, no craft service (i.e.
refreshments on the set), the actors had to provide their own wardrobe
and transportation, etc. And the movie finished shooting in 18 days. I
imagine that made for a rocky if entertaining production, but it
doesn't really pay off on screen; for the audience, that's all that
really matters.

The movie-in-a-movie story is both interesting and confusing;
journalist Catherine (Roberts) is conducting a marathon interview with
handsome black actor Nicholas (Underwood), starting on an L.A.-bound
plane, and continuing onto the set of a movie he's making with Brad
Pitt (seen briefly). It's a bit startling when Roberts takes off her
black wig (and the movie snaps over to "real life"), but at least it
gives us an easy way to tell when Roberts is playing the fictional
Catherine and when she's playing Francesca, her "real" identity. (Note:
the face of the director of Nicholas' movie is obscured by a moving
rectangle; not sure why this was done, but it's David Fincher.)

We also meet David Hyde Pierce, screenwriter-playwright Carl, who is
aware that his marriage isn't as happy as it might be, but unaware that
his wife Lee (Catherine Keener) intends to leave him. Things get
confusing again here. Carl wrote the movie in progress, and also (?) a
play called "The Sound and the Fuhrer," with Nicky Katt as the
obnoxious, arrogant actor playing Hitler. The play is being directed by
Enrico Colantoni, who also apparently has a role in the movie, and one
in "real life." At one point, Carl is fired by the editor of the
magazine he works for (since Catherine does, too, we must assume this
means the Carl-as-journalist scenes are "fictional"). Carl also has a
neighbor who goes about all the time -- we see him taking out the
garbage -- dressed as a vampire.

Linda (Mary McCormack) is Lee's sister, and a masseuse, visiting
clients in hotels where she's well known. Eventually, she services --
in more ways than one -- the distraught Gus (David Duchovny), who is
the producer of the movie we seeing made. He's also listed in the
credits as "Bill," but that's just more confusion. Pitt, Terence Stamp
and Jerry Weintraub appear as (I imagine) themselves, though Stamp may
be the tough old gangster from Soderbergh's fine "The Limey."
The movie meanders on, moving from one segment to another, finally
winding up at a lavish part atop a Sunset Strip hotel.

"Full Frontal" (the title does not indicate nudity) is a frustrating
movie to watch; it's undeniably interesting and often very amusing
(particularly in a sequence in which Carl mistakenly believes his dog
has been poisoned), but the connections and continuity between the
segments are rarely clear, so the film never really engages you
emotionally or intellectually. We don't much care about any of the
characters, either. Soderbergh's attempt to separate scenes from the
movie-in-the-movie from just the movie by the clarity and
"professionalism" of the movie-in-the-movie cinematography vs. the
hand-held, video look of the rest, undoubtedly worked better in
theaters than it does on video, where all the images are on video.
Plentiful jump cuts in the "real life" segments are annoying, and not
refreshingly realistic.

Unfortunately, telling the two sections apart become crucial to the
enjoyment of the movie; if you can't readily do it, you disengage from
the movie. But there's still the very good acting to carry you along.
In addition to Roberts and Underwood, those giving especially good
performances include Hitler actor Nicky Catt, Enrico Colantoni and
David Hyde Pierce. You may end up as annoyed by the film as you are
entertained.

There are several extras on the DVD, the most interesting of which are
the commentary track by Soderbergh and Coleman Hough (he gave her a
brief cameo in the party scene), which explains a great deal about
their intentions. The deleted-scenes section is much more interesting
than usual; these scenes mostly must have been cut for length alone.
The "Spycam" -- brief black-and-white footage shot on the sets -- is an
interesting idea that goes nowhere. There are also some interviews with
the actors adopting the personalities of the characters they're
playing. This is more interesting to hear about than actually to see.
The sound is the sort that's quickly grabbed, and not worked on a lot,
to retain the reality of those segments.

Some people reacted to "Full Frontal" as if Steven Soderbergh betrayed
them. How could he do movies as good as "Traffic," "Erin Brockovich"
and "Ocean's 11" and then do this? Well, he's an experimental sort of
guy, almost always photographing all his movies while directing them --
which indicates he's very interested in both technique and
storytelling. I think it's terrific that he's able to do these
low-budget palate cleansers when he wants to; they probably keep him
fresh and focused when he makes big budget films. More power to Steven
Soderbergh -- but that doesn't mean you have to see "Full Frontal."

more details

sound format:

dts

aspect ratio(s):

1.85:1

special features:

several
extras, including commentary by director Steven Soderbergh and
screenwriter Coleman Hough; deleted scenes (also with commentary);
trailer; other extras